Whiting-desk



uNiTED STATE-s PATENT orrrcn.

ELISHA HUGHES,- OF MCCARTYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA.

WRITINGfDESK.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,086, dated May 1, 1860.

To all whom 'llt may concern:

Be it known that I, ELISHA HUGHES, of McCartysville, in the county ofSanta Clara and State of California, have invented a new and ImprovedWriting-Desk; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being Ahad to theaccompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, in whichFigure 1 is a transverse vertical section of my invention. Fig. 2 a planor top view of ditto, when open and ready for use.

Similar letters of reference in both views indicate corresponding parts.

The object of this invention is to provide travelers with a box orvalise which contains in a comparatively small space all the requisitesfor writing; paper, pen and ink, and the table even on which the writingcan be done, and also a blotting roller, a ruler and an almanac, and myinvention consists in arranging in a box or valise, two rollers`l tocontaln a continuous sheet of paper and another roller covered withblotting paper together, an adjustable table and inkstand, so that whenthe box is opened, and its parts adjusted, every requisite for writingis at hand, and that by turning one or the other of said rollers, thepaper is made to travel over the table in either direction as may bedesired, the whole being sol arranged as to make a new article ofmanufacture.

To enable those skilled. in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its constructiony and operation.

A A represents a box or valise, the two parts of which are hingedtogether, and precisely of the same depth, so that when the box isopened, the two parts lay down flat, as clearly shown in Fig. l. Whenthe box is closed, the part A forms the lid, and the part A the body ofthe box, and both are fastened together by a lock B, in the usualmanner. The body A of the box is provided with grooves a b on bothsides, the grooves a, to receive a table C, and the grooves b to receivethe blotting roller D as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

E is the paper roller, which turns on an axle e, the bearings of which,are in the sides of the body A and the top edge of the inner end pieceof the body A is furnished wlth projecting pins d which serve to keepthe table in its place when the box is arranged for being used, as willbe presently..

explained.

A roller F, similar to the roller E, turns on an axle e, which has itsbearings in the sides of the lid A, and both the rollers E and F, areprovided with spring catches f, to retain the end of the paper, and boththese rollers are so arranged, that they can conveniently be rotatedfrom the outside of the box, by means of a suitable handle J. Beyond theroller F, and rigidly atached to the sides of the lid are the slottedstandards g which serve to receive the blotting roller D, as clearlyshown in Fig. 1. The slots on these standards are of such a depth, thatthe blotting roller rests on the surface of the roller F, and that itrotates with the latter by friction.

The outside portion of the lid is partitioned ofi', so as to form aseparate compartment for the inkstand G, and another compartment for aroller H that contains the almanac as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Betweenthese two compartments is a space I, that serves to receive the handleJ, if the box is not used.

The operation is as. follows: When the box is to be used, the table C iswithdrawn from the grooves a and placed on the top of the box as shownin the drawing. The paper from the roller E is now drawn over the table,and secured to the spring catch f of the roller F as represented in redlines in Fig. 1, andthe blotting roller D is removed from the grooves bin the body A, and placed into the slots in the standards g The paper,las it passes over the table C, is sufciently strained to lay flat onthe saine, in the proper position to be written on, and as the writingproceeds, the roller F is turned in the direction of the arrow marked onthe same, in Fig. 1. That portion of the paper, which is lled withWriting, is thus rolled up on the roller F, and the wet writing isbrought in contact with the surface of the blotting roller D, to preventblotting. After the entire sheet has been unwound from the roller E, itmay be drawn back on the same, by turning said roller in the directlonmarked thereon in Fig. 1, or it may be taken off from the roller F, anda new sheet put in its place.

The date can always be ascertained from the almanac roller H, and theinkstand is kept in its place by a spring so that it can readily beremoved Whenever it becomes necessary to put in a new supply of ink.-

When done writing, the inkstand is corked up tioht, the blotting rollerand the table are replaced to their respective places in the grooves aand b and the box is closed up and locked.

The expense of constructing such a box is Very triing and itsconvenience is obvious.

What I claim las new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, as a newarticle of manu'- facture is,

A writing box arranged as described with 15 paper rollers E and F, ablotting roller D, and a table C, in combination with an inkstand G, andwith an almanac-roller H for the purpose specified.

E'LISHA HUGHES.

Witnesses:

JAS. BROWNLEE, R. H. STEWART.

